The PPAC Builds Pre-Health Community Through Weekly Professional School Development Workshops  

In an effort to promote and build community among pre-health students, the Pre-Professional Advising Center has implemented a new series called Bite Size Learning, every Tuesday 2-3 p.m. in Bayley Hall, where students gather for snacks and to learn tips on how to explore, prepare and apply to different professional schools, attend workshops, and develop methods for success. These interactive sessions are meant to expose students to different healthcare opportunities, prepare pre-health students for professional school and develop them into competitive applicants. In preparation for professional school, the P-PAC highly advises students to seek out different experiences that will continue to expose them to their chosen field and encourages them to pursue things they are passionate about. The P-PAC is committed to providing its students with these different experiences.

The first session of Bite-Size Learning was focused on creating a healthy routine. Here at the Pre-Professional Advising Center, we understand the difficulties most students, especially pre-health students, face balancing coursework and extracurricular activities. In this session, we discussed the importance of creating a healthy routine, and students had the opportunity to create their own routine and set themselves up for success in the upcoming semester.

Our next Bite-Size Learning workshop focused on finding research opportunities on campus with guest speaker, Professor Daniel Nichols, a current Seton Hall professor and researcher. This workshop allowed students to learn about different kinds of research on campus and how to find them. Research is an aspect of an individual’s professional school application that can help them stand out and become a more competitive candidate.

Most recently, for Valentine’s Day, our pre-health community gathered together and participated in a stress management workshop with coloring. For pre-professional students, university can be an extremely stressful endeavor. Our students are constantly multitasking, keeping up their GPA, preparing for admissions exams, involved in extracurriculars, and all of the other preparations necessary to be competitive applicants. Here at the PPAC, we understand that the pressures of the pre-health track can be overwhelming. As such, we encourage students to remember to think about their own health and monitor their stress levels. Art in all forms has been proven to reduce stress by decreasing cortisol levels, so we were happy to have students at this workshop.

The PPAC Bite-Size Learning Workshops happen every Tuesday from 2-3 p.m. in Bayley Hall. Our next workshops include:

• 2/21: MD vs. DO: RSVP HERE
• 2/28: Exploration of Health Pathways: RSVP HERE
• 3/14: Time Management: RSVP HERE
• 3/21: Preparing for Pharmacy School: RSVP HERE
• 3/28: Learning Strategies: RSVP HERE
• 4/4: Preparing for Vet School: RSVP HERE
• 4/11: Dentistry and Manual Dexterity: RSVP HERE
• 4/18: Secondary Application Workshops: RSVP HERE

Additionally, the Pre-Professional Advising Center and Pre-Health Advisory Committee have started working with students preparing for the upcoming medical school application cycle. The P-PAC is hosting a two-part Personal Statement Workshop with guest speaker, Professor Karen Gevirtz, from the Department of English. These workshops give students direct feedback on their personal statement, one of the most vital aspects of their application. The first workshop, hosted this past Wednesday, was centered around the format of the essay and the content that should be included within the personal statements, while the second workshop on Feb. 22 will be an editing workshop, RSVP HERE. This workshop will consist of editing and working through students' personal statement drafts so they can receive instant feedback. Here at the Pre-Professional Advising Center, we are committed to building a community amongst our pre-health students and giving them the opportunity to remain competitive in their pursuit of graduate professional school.

Are you a Pre-Health student? Consider joining the Pre- Professional Advising Center listserv to receive recent news, upcoming events, and opportunities. You can also find us on ENGAGE. 

Categories: Education, Health and Medicine